Review of 'Code' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Code starts with the encoding of numbers, from Morse and Braille to bases and binary, then digs into electronic circuits, from simple switches to more complex logic. Clever use of logic circuits allows storage of states, eventually combining those into memory. The Automation chapter covers using those stored states to tell other circuits what to do - adding numbers, looping to multiply, etc. - and a computer processor is born.
While the basics of numbers, transistors, and silicon are always interesting, a few of the concepts feel a bit dated. The author suggests parts could be purchased at Radio Shack or compares concepts to "modern computers" of what are now 20 years ago. The discussion of 8080 opcodes goes into way too much detail, while the discussion of graphics feels way too short to cover the gamut from CRT to GUI.
I would definitely recommend the majority of this book …
Code starts with the encoding of numbers, from Morse and Braille to bases and binary, then digs into electronic circuits, from simple switches to more complex logic. Clever use of logic circuits allows storage of states, eventually combining those into memory. The Automation chapter covers using those stored states to tell other circuits what to do - adding numbers, looping to multiply, etc. - and a computer processor is born.
While the basics of numbers, transistors, and silicon are always interesting, a few of the concepts feel a bit dated. The author suggests parts could be purchased at Radio Shack or compares concepts to "modern computers" of what are now 20 years ago. The discussion of 8080 opcodes goes into way too much detail, while the discussion of graphics feels way too short to cover the gamut from CRT to GUI.
I would definitely recommend the majority of this book to anyone with the slightest interest in what happens below the cursor on a computer. I look forward to reading [b:The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine|2333956|The Annotated Turing A Guided Tour Through Alan Turing's Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine|Charles Petzold|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348963714s/2333956.jpg|2340531], by the same author.
This is the 1000th book I've read and rated in the 9½ years I've been tracking books on goodreads. Halfway through 2018, it is also the 50th book I've read this year. At 7 years, I created a few top 7 lists, and this was in the top 7 of my to-read pile, based on rating.